Walmart store zoning- City leaders showed no respect for democracy

Open letter to Mayor Bob Stephens and Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Seifried: During the last year you each have done your best to ignore the pleas of the people of Springfield in favor of pushing your personal agenda to serve power-hungry campaign contributors, antiquated bigotry and multinational corporations.

You have purposely subverted democracy by bastardizing the intentions of the city's charter in order to keep an initiative petition by citizens from reaching voters, by resigning LGBT people's inalienable rights to a mutable "task force" in an attempt to further delay "equal justice" for all Springfieldians as guaranteed in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and by forcing the iron will of Walmart onto a neighborhood that has overwhelmingly objected.

Mr. Mayor, your recent comment in regard to the City Council meeting on Feb. 25 that "several people had a complete disrespect for the democratic process," is hypocrisy that cannot be ignored. The ideal of true democracy no longer exists in this political system where politicians are in the pockets of the wealthy elite.

Councilman Seifried, I interrupted your prepared monologue because you were blatantly stretching the truth as if it were Silly Putty; I spoke up to remind you that it was Walmart's so-called "experts" who did those "traffic studies" to which you were referring; I have no regrets.

Gentlemen, your reaction to the crowd at City Hall says it all: Neither of you has respect for free speech, equality or democracy, and your promise to "increase security" at future council meetings is only to protect your own egos from the people you pretend to represent.

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Walmart store zoning- City leaders showed no respect for democracy

Open letter to Mayor Bob Stephens and Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Seifried: During the last year you each have done your best to ignore the pleas of the people of Springfield in favor of pushing your personal